So when talking about 1911s often “Filipino 1911s” are the dirty word in the industry. Still whenever I say that I get several people chiming in that their Rock Island Armory 1911s run like a top.
Still the big question is: “What’s your round-count?” And of course the answer is usually self-selecting. People who buy an entry-level 1911 tend not to have the scratch to put a few cases of ammo through it a year. .45 ACP is expensive ammo, so to put several thousands of rounds through the gun is a good deal more than the price of the gun. If you have the cash to spend on that amount of ammo, most people will simply chose to buy a more expensive, and reputable gun.
This goes for all sorts of inexpensive gun brands, such as Taurus, Hi-Point, Cobra, et al. If you’re buying a gun that cheap, you’re buying it because you don’t have a ton of money to kick around, or you’re buying it as a conversation piece. Either way it isn’t going to spend a ton of time at the firing line.
Well Shelly Rae over at Gun Nuts has a look at the gun in her rental counter.
Have I heard of people having issues with them? Of course. Have I seen it? Not once. On top of the gun in the rental case I know several people who own them, and so far four out of four work just fine.
Rental guns get BEATEN to death just like rental cars. Also the pictured gun is their “mil-spec” version, which I’m not a fan of in general, but they do also offer guns with the swept beavertails and modern, dove-tailed sights that I really demand in a 1911.
Again the big thing to take away from this is that 1911 are generally looked at as THE super-fun gun to shoot. It was the gun that got me hooked on shooting. It was the first gun I bought, and its the gun I’m carrying right now. There are other guns that are just as good, and there are good that are cheaper to build, but they are a market force that will likely NEVER go away.
Also one thing I MUST say about the 1911, is that there are very few guns where you will find the sheer volume of holsters, accessories, and equipment available for them, and there are almost no guns in any caliber that are as slim as a 1911. So they make GREAT guns for carry.
So if you don’t have a 1911 in your arsenal, and you get sticker shock when looking at Colts, Springfields, Dan Wesson, and Smith And Wesson, maybe you should have a close look at one of these.
I’m pushing 3,000 rounds with mine. I had some problems. Mine didn’t care for Wilson mags, and I put a new extractor in it. Since then its run great.
Interesting. My S&W 5″ didn’t like Chip McCormick mags (actually the issue was spreading feed-lips, so I don’t know if ANY gun would handle that well), and I now run nothing but Wilson mags. Ever so often I’m curious about how other mags might work, but why mess with perfection?
conversely, my RIA Match haaaaaaaaaates the stock crap mag but loves my Chip McCormicks.
I generally don’t judge 1911s by the mags they ship with. There’s some good ones, some great ones and there is abject shit.
As I said, I had some bad luck with some McCormick mags, so I don’t use them, and stick with Wilsons.
When I bought my S&W1911Sc it had one chip in the box. I looked at it and handed it to the shop keeper and told him he could keep that. He was nice enough to replace it with a Wilson without my request …I was going to buy the gun anyway.
Yep, my Dan Wesson doesn’t like the DW branded Check-Mate mags but loves the Chip McCormack Power Mag Plus.
Now that’s VERY interesting. DW/CZ throw out all the stops and build a M1911 EXACTLY how it should be built IMHO, and they’re about as good as you can expect to get before going up to the big dogs like Less Baer or Cylinder and Slide, Nighthawk Custom, et al.
Odd that they’d ship with such substandard magazines.
As far as I know S&W has been putting a S&W rollmark on Novak magazines these days, dunno about the other makers, but I know most of the newer 1911 makers don’t make their mags in-house.
I know Colt, Kimber, Novak, Wilson, and likely Springfield all make their 1911 mags in-house, I’d imagine most of the others buy mags in bulk from the other mag makers.
My first 1911 was a Springer GI, but I’ve heard good things about the RIA guns.
As for quality guns, I personally don’t look down on the lower-end guns per se, but I still prefer to save my dough for a Ruger, Springfield or the like. From what I understand they can be had pretty cheaply secondhand. And Rugers are hell for stout. I wouldn’t hesitate to buy one of their sidearms secondhand.
I got my Springfield GI precisely because it was a parkerized clone of the gun I was issued. I’m at about 500 rounds total with no issues.
Not a super high round count, I know, but it’s eaten ammo the Glock 21 has refused to chamber.
Come cooler weather it’s my carry gun. It’s heavy but not bulky. The Glock just doesn’t hide well. The summer gun stays in the pocket even in the winter so if something should go wrong with the 1911, I’ll still have something to shoot.
I love my Citadel, which is built by RI. Only put 700 or 800 rounds through it (had it since March).
What I’ve found is that you learn your gun. Mine likes to be shot clean, and lubed. It does a little better with good mags (it came with a great one; the two cheapo ones I got are OK but not great).
It had a bent slide pin once; the Citadel folks FedEx’ed me two replacements.
Good gun, good prive, good service. Maybe not the right choice for someone who likes to ride ’em hard and put ’em away wet, but we get along just fine.
Dunno if you remember me mentioning in GBC about my RIA or not Weerd, but it runs pretty well. Out of about 1k rounds so far its had 1 FT Feed and that was with a 7rd Springer mag and Remington UMC FMJ so I’m not entirely sure it wasn’t just a fluke(it was pretty dirty by that point). I did notice the bullet seemed to be seated deeper than in other rounds too. Other than that both my RIA and Taurus feed with WWB 230gr JHP’s and any FMJ’s that I’ve used so far. Using both the ACT-MAG’s that came with the RIA and the Springer and CMC mags as well as the factory mag for the Taurus it seems to do pretty good for a cheapo.
I’ve had some issues w/ mine at first but for the money it’s definitely worth it. The sight was off but they replaced the slide and threw in a new magazine for my trouble. It occasionally has a FTF but I clear it and it keeps going. I’ve probably put 1K+ through it.
Seems the reports are quite consistent.
You know, John Moses Browning (PBUH!), along with the other old-time Gun Designers (like the Mausers, Mr. Moisen, Mr. Nagant, Mr. Garand, Mr. Kalishnikov, et.al.) had a common thought: this weapon MUST shoot every time one pulls the trigger, no matter WHAT the conditions. It’s in the Modern Era, where people keep “Tweaking” designs that were never meant to be “National Match” or “IPSC Race Guns” that somehow has led to this Gun Snobbery. So RIA is low end, so what? If they make to at least the same Standards that the 1911 was being made back in the “War to End all Wars” era, put on some better sights and have at it.
Just go look at what Col. Cooper thought needed to be done to 1911’s. It really isn’t that much.
Big Gun Manufacturers need to think before they bring out new product: Will this gun go Bang EVERY Time the Trigger is pulled?
Not just go bang but cycle completely.
They made nearly two million 1911’s in WW2 and it earned an AK-like reputation for reliability.
What modern makers need to ask themselves is, “what did we do to break the design?” Because as designed and manufactured by non-gun makers it was fine.
Well my big issue is that when John Browning first cranked out his prototype .45 Auto-loading pistol we were at the dawn of the industrial revolution, and a great depression was soon-to-come.
The hand-fitting of metal forging has gone from a way to make guns taking advantage of cheap labor.
Now in the days of OSHA labor laws, and unions “Cheap labor” is really a thing of the past, and building guns with CNC, injection molding, and investment casting are the new way to make an all-steel gun.
The question is “Are these methods good enough for a gun that was conceived long before these methods?
It looks like if they’re done right: Yes they are.
Son got a RIA compact; he wanted a .45, and one he could fool with(sights, etc). Mechanically it’s still straight factory(put the new sights on right off) with somewhere between 1-1.5k rounds through it, and he says no problems at all.
Sounds like a pretty slick little gun for short money!